ISG is the thinking person's guide to full-spectrum self-reliance. Our goal is to provide actionable, contextually relevant solutions for any problem to enrich lives through skill and adventure, and to encourage thoughtfulness and experience.

Purpose Makes Us Stronger

ISG exists because it's founders and partners have lived through, handled, or professionally prepared and mitigated emergencies for years. We've found approaches that are an untapped well in an industry over-ripe with superficial vanity, and a lack of substance. Approaches that bring purpose to our lives.

As anyone who's dealt with crisis can tell you, there is a euphoria that comes on the tail end of being part of something larger than yourself, and helping others when they truly need it. In a world of Punisher and Coexist stickers, of idiomatic, political slogans, we find ourselves unable to slow down and ask: "what void are we trying to fill?" with these sentiments.

We're human, and we believe, tribal by nature. We universally want to participate in, and be recognized for our contributions to a group that values us. We search in vain in politics, in ideology, in sports or vicariously through TV. We're desperate to identify.

The euphoria of disasters, of violence, of emergencies exists because in the light of those brief fires of turmoil, we feel purpose. Humans are hardwired to act in defense of their tribe.

It gives us a sense of belonging; a commitment to reconstruction, or to driving out our enemies. For those who've experienced that, it's difficult to return to "normal." Which, in truth, is a toxic, frantic and unhealthy lifestyle devoted to ever-increasing demands on our time. Demands that steals from us not only our humanity, but our most precious commodity in the pursuit of purpose: our time.

Here, we want to rekindle that sense of purpose by providing a place for capability, self reliance, and community to intersect. To allow you to feel purpose. To find time and direction that helps you become more capable. To forge strong alliances with people - not possessions or our cultural mythology presented by the television oracle.

We want to rebuild the intellectual framework on how we recognize and manage emergencies, and train in a way that we're ready to really live.

One of our mottos here is "resilience through experience", and driving that is a passion for learning, for doing, and for assisting in need. The reason for this is threefold, and a deeply held component of our philosophy;

1. Experience makes us better, more well-rounded, and stronger people.

2. It allows us to more quickly recognize and act, in order to preserve life, mitigate and prevent further emergencies, and minimize damage.

3. It is fulfilling; by using our time to strengthen our bonds to community and friends, to establish a network that offers mutual support, we find what can't be found in the distracting "hall of mirror" of consumer culture.

So bookmark us. Read what to find interesting, and know that unlike most sites, "integrated" means just that. We strive to bring you things that enrich life. You might not have time to build every skill we mention, or go on every adventure. If you're not interested in everything we discuss here, that's ok. We hope you'll stick around and find things you do enjoy.

Use us as a template to build your own peer group, enjoy life, and learn from our mistakes to build your successes.

Let's build experience and resiliency, create and strengthen bonds, and live in a way that cultivates something that will survive us.

Purpose makes us stronger.

Author's note:

This was written weeks ago, and scheduled to be published Friday Oct 6th... before the tragic shooting that occurred in Las Vegas.

In the wake of such depravity, we've seen these principles play out amongst the survivors, who banded together to transport the wounded, who used their bodies to shield the vulnerable, and who confronted the gunman and ending the rampage.

In the wake of such events, it's even more important to reassess our levels of proficiency and preparedness. We believe that while awful, events like this validate the need to have a flexible mental framework for dealing with tragedy. We believe this information should be available to all, which is why our articles are free and we're working diligently to bring more subject matter experts to you as resources.

The people caught in the ambush were victims of circumstance, but beacons of heroism. We can't say our thoughts or prayers will have an observable effect, but please accept our admiration, respect, and love.